Would you buy a book worth Rs 1.3 crore?

Italian automobile manufacturer Ferrari has unveiled its biography edition with a leather-bound cover and diamond-encrusted logo for an exorbitant price and printed one copy per country

Italian automobile manufacturer Ferrari has unveiled its biography edition with a leather-bound cover and diamond-encrusted logo for an exorbitant price and printed one copy per country

Not only is the driving experience of Italian car manufacturer Ferrari expensive, reading their biography will also cost you crores. Italian automobile manufacturer, Ferrari, on Thursday unveiled its official biography - The Ferrari Official Opus - a diamond-encrusted volume, priced at $250,000 (about Rs1.3 crore), making it the costliest book to be sold in India.

cover to cover: (Above) Chairman of Shreyans group Ashish Chordia

and chief executive of Opus Media Group Karl Fowler present the Enzo

Diamante edition book for India of The Official Ferrari Opus

during a function in New Delhi on Thursday. PIC/Imtiyaz Khan

The Ferrari Opus (diamante edition) traces the company's history from the time of its inception. With only one book being printed per country, India stands on number 63. The country for number 64 has not been decided yet.

Diamante edition book for India of The Official Ferrari Opus

Worth the weight!

The book, of which only 4,100 copies have been printed, weighs 37 kg. The book was released at the Ferrari showroom in the Capital. The leather cover binding sports a 16x12cm silver prancing horse - the Ferrari logo - encrusted with diamonds totaling 32.3 carats. The book has been personally signed by Ferrari F1 world champions such as Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso on a silver foil signature sheet, racing legends and current F1 drivers. It also bares a personal note by the Ferrari president.

Antonio Ghini, Ferrari's longstanding communications director and editor-in-chief of The Ferrari Official Magazine was the creative advisor of the book, which was edited and designed by a team led by Ezster Karpati.

Big names

The contributors include legendary portrait photographer Rankin, Enzo Ferrari's biographer Leo Turrini, famous Ferrari designer Mauro Forgheiri, design guru Stephen Bayley and world champions like Niki Lauda, Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso.The 852-page book features more than 1,000 images to bring alive the history of the iconic Ferrari.